A Case for the Cakras: Finding their Place in Contemporary Discourse

Abstract

The intention of this project is to make a case for the cakras by finding their place in contemporary discourse. The assumption that allows for this project is that the structure and context of the cakras as psycho-physical phenomenon are not sufficiently established in scholarship. The method employed is to illuminate the cakras, which are primarily addressed as historical/textual entities, as phenomenological and psychological entities. This will be done through the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the additions to his depiction of the lived body as per YUASA Yasuo, who introduces the “unconscious quasi-body” (i.e., the subtle body) as a level of the body of which one may become aware. The cakras will also be presented as that which function similarly to psychological entities, introducing the depth psychology and commentary of C.G. Jung. By doing so, the human component of the cakras will be drawn out of historical/textual matters and into the lived experience of the human body where they may become the subject of phenomenological and psychological analysis. Through arguing for the addition of these standpoints, future dialog with other disciplines, especially contemporary cakra practitioners, may be facilitated.